The Tiger
In Biggles in the Jungle, "The Tiger" was the nickname of an unnamed bandit cheiftain who ruled a private empire in the interior of British Honduras. "The Tiger" also styled himself "The King of the Jungle" and had a small private army of armed guards which he used to kidnap chicle collectors and Indians, forcing them to work as slave labourers to collect rubber and chicle for him. Later, the Tiger teamed up with treasure hunters Joe Warner and Silas Schmitt and used his slaves to excavate for the Carmichael treasure among the ruins of an ancient city on a plateau near the secret jungle village which was his headquarters. The Tiger's activities were highly worrisome for Carruthers, the acting governor of British Honduras as he was causing trouble to the jungle dwellers in the interior and also affecting the economy of the colony by draining it of its most important export, chicle. When Biggles offered to help, Carruthers had Biggles, Algy and Ginger sworn in as special constables for the purposes of hunting down the Tiger. Biggles' first encounter with the Tiger was the occasion for another of Johns' skilful word pictures. The Tiger was described as "a striking ﬁgure, but certainly not a pleasing one. He was a half-caste, the black predominating, of about ﬁfty years of age; he was of medium height, but of massive, though corpulent, proportions. His arms and shoulders might have been that of a gorilla, but as an example of physique he was spoilt by a paunch of a stomach." His face was flabby from over-eating, his cheeks were puffy but his chin "pugnacious". He had small dark eyes which ﬂashed suspiciously. His hair was long and luxuriant, but had "an unmistakable negroid twist in it" and he had an enormous black moustache which drooped from his upper lip. In dress, Johns described him as over—dressed in "a uniform so elaborate, so heavy with gold braid, colours so brilliant that not even a cinema commissionaire would have dared to wear it." He gave Biggles the impression of a comic-opera brigand. Biggles judged him to be a man of considerable physical strength. He was vain, crafty, unscrupulous and brutal but at a pinch might turn out to be cowardly. This observation proved accurate. When Biggles and Carruthers brought a small force of policemen to the plateau, the Tiger's slaves rose in revolt. The Tiger fled from the plateau Finding his way barred by Algy and Ginger, he jumped onto a ledge and found his way into a cave where he was bitten all over by tarantulas and rendered unconscious. At the end of the book, the Tiger had recovered from his injuries and was in prison awaiting trail for his numerous offences which included several counts of murder. The Tiger is one of the few characters which are carried over into the Dutch comic strip adaptation of the book entitled Biggles in de jungle. Here he was killed in an exchange of fire with Biggles. In the comic, the Tiger is depicted as a thin, bald headed, cadaverous man rather than corpulent and did not affect gaudy uniforms as in the novel. Category:People Category:Interwar era characters Category:Biggles characters